Monday, November 3, 2008

Decommissioning

Things have been a little tense at the winery as of late. We have been working about 80 hours a week, sometimes more. People have been getting stretched thin.

So, last Friday, Berlin comes jogging by saying, "come down for a barrel decommissioning!"

I went down to the crush pad to see everyone from the winery just standing around and Berlin and John (2 winemakers) with a forklift and an old barrel. Berlin said, "Dear friends, we have gathered here to decommission this barrel after its long years of service. It has worked so hard that it can no longer hold wine. We bid it adieu."

Just then John started raising the water-filled barrel up on the forklift, as high as it could go. Berlin shouted out, "Sound the death horn!" Eric blew on a broken pipe like a didgeridoo. John tipped the forklift forward, dropping the barrel. It exploded on the ground to joyous shouts.

I then turned to Stephen and said, "Lets pick up the fragments to burn in the fireplace tonight.""Yeah" he replied, "I'm tired of waking up and seeing my breath."